Package.



C. Pl WINTER.

PACKAGE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 30. 1911.

1L $QQ 11 IL 6 Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

WITNESQES' ,1 INVENTIOR,

{51024751 2692 Wimim a 4 m BY 4 m 1 Xdk ATTORNEYS,

- superimposed UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

COURTNEY P. WINTER, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 JAPANESE TISSUE MILLS, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PACKAGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, COURTNEY P. Wrxrnn, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at llolyoke, in the countyof Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Packages, of which the following is'a specification.

This invention relates to an improved package of articles, such as napkins, towels, and the like and more particularly paper napkins and towels.

An object of the invention is toprovide a package of articles. such as paper napkins, for example. which consists of a stack of ed in triangular form with upper and lower folds, the former being shorter than the latter for the purpose of permitting the upper article in the package to be grasped and picked up without touching the article therebelow.

Other objects and advantages'willappear in the description to follow and will be par ticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention, in an embodiment at pres- ;ent preferred. is shown for illustrative purposes in the accompanying drawings, 111 which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fixture showing a conventional representation of the package therein; and

0 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the package show ,as removed from the fixture.

The package, represented generally by referenoe letter (I in Fig. 1, is substantially triangular in shape. It consists of a plurality of vertically stacked articles. each of which is folded in the manner best shown in Fig 2. The articles. for example. paper napkins, are substantially rectangular sheets each of which may be folded one or more times upon itself in the usual manner, the folded article still retaining its rectangular shape. The rectangular napkin. or the rectangularly folded napkin. is folded along a line 7) which is substantially parallel with but is spaced from one of the diagonals of the rectangular article. This folding operation divides the napkin into two parts 0 and (Z. and the for mer is superimposed upon the latter. as shown in Fig. 2. The part r or upper fold of the napkin is of triangular shape. and

the part (i or lower fold is substantially triuppermost.

articles, each of whichis foldan'gular although not exactly so since the line of fold b is not a diagonal of the rectangularlyshaped napkin. The fact that line I) parallels but'is' spaced from the diagonal line of the napkin-results in making one told, the upper fold 0, smaller than the fold (I therebe'low, so that two edges of the former parallel thecorresponding edges of the "latter and are spaced therefrom toward the line of fold b. The package, as has been mentioned, comprises a plurality of napkins. each folded as described, which are stacked one upon another with the short fold The napkins, thus stacked into package form, may be held temporarily together in any suitable manner, as by elastic bands, for example.

The described package is intended to be used with a dispensing fixture such for example as is shown in Fig. 1. This, fixture involves two vertically upstanding members a), each of which is of the shape of an mverted U. The members 5 are arranged in spaced parallel relation and the rear leg of each is connected with a horizontal portion (3. The latter is spaced forwardly from the common vertical plane of the rear legs of member 5 by thebent port-ion s f:7,'one-adja cent the bottom of each rear leg of members The horizontal member 6 is also spaced vertically above the lower ends of members 7. The front legs of the members 5 are also connected by portions 8. 9. and '10. The

portions 8 are inwardly turned toward one another from their respective legs of member 5. and the portions 9 are bent forwardly at right angles to the members 8 and lie in spaced parallel relation. The members 8 and all lie in a common horizontal plane and In the same horizontal plane as the described inember'ti. The spaced forward ends of the members 9 are connected by a U- Shaped portion 10 which is bent downwardly at right angles to the members, asv clearly shown. The two portions 7 and the portion 10 are adapted for supporting engagement with a table, counter, or other suitable supporting means.

It will be seen that the bottom of the package is supported along its rear edge by the member 6, intermediate its rear edge and its forward pointed corner by the members 8, and the pointed corner is supported by the member 9. T wermost napkin in pack being positioned in age a is held away from the supporting means for the fixture by the legforming portions 7 and 10. The two pointed side corners of the package are received between the inverted U-shaped members 5 and slidable on the latter are weights 11.

It is to be noted that the spaced parallel upright loop forming members 5 function to position the package a and hold it against displacement in any direction in a horizontal plane. The package cannot be moved an appreciable distance to the right or leftor forwardly or reawardly rested by abutment with some part of memhere 5. The. weights 11 serve to hold the package upon its described bottom supporting means and compress the package to some degree adjacent its side corners. The central portion of the package is not, however. compressed and the compression of the side portions of the package has a tendency to throw the forward triangular corners of the package upwardly and to separate the triangular corners of the upper folds 0 from the. lower folds d.

The forward triangular corner of the upper fold c is thus ordinarily positioned slightly above the lower fold (Z and constitutes the only part of the napkin which is conveniently available to be grasped. By

such a manner, the forward corner of fold c is so temptingly arranged for convenient grasping that one iiwoluntarily reaches for this corner when it is desired to withdraw a napkin from the fixture. One naturally grasps the napkin by the forward corner of upper fold c and in so doing only the upper napkin itself is touched. The napkins therebelow are protected from contact by the projecting lower fold d. The package is also arranged so that only one napkin at a time can be conveniently withdrawn.

In use. the forward triangular corner of the upper fold c of the uppermost napkin f package ais grasped and drawn forwardly. The triangular edges 6 of the lower fold d are brought into engagement with the forward legs of members 5. ()n continued movement of the napkin forwardly, the edges c act against the forward legs of member 5 with a cam action to force the two side portions of the upper napkin inwardly toward one another and this results in forcing the central portion of the napkin upwardly. Upon further forward movement, the central ortion of the napkin is bent'upwardly to such an extent that its side edges clear the forward legs of members 5 so that the napkin may be withdrawn. To put the matter another way, the triangular fold provides the two diverging cam-edges e, e, for cooperation. with the spaced abutments or buckling members of the dispenser, whereby the napkin is bucllzled as it is drawn without being ar-' meagre forward, thereby to free the napkin being withdrawn from the one next below. Now it will be noted that as the withdrawing continues, the natural tendency of the operator is to increase the speed, the withdrawing action becoming almost a snatch. And here the cam action is of peculiar value. for, as the withdrawing continues thebuckling progressively increases and the surface freed from the napkin below progressively increases. so that although the speed of withdrawal increases. the tendency for the lower napkin to be pulled out because of its adhesion to the one above progressively diminishes.

it is to be noted particularly that the weights 11 play an important part in the withdrawal of napkins in the described manner. They not only act in the ordinary way to hold the package upon its supporting members, as described, but they also function to hold the rear edge of the napkin from being drawn upwardly to defeat the smooth withdrawal of the napkin by the described cam action. For example, a forward pull on the forward corner of fold acts on lower fold d at the rear thereof along the line of told b, and the edges 9, being held by aluitment with the forward legs of member I; hold the lower fold cl against forward nii'wenient with result that without the weights 11 the unrestrained rear edge of the napkin will be drawn forwardly and lifted vertically before the described cam action can occur. This brings a relatively large surface of the napkin against the forward legs of members 5 rather than thin as when the rear edge of the napkin is restrained from lifting by" the weights Thus, an improved parka"; of napkins or the like has been prov ted which is characterized by its arrangement, whereby only one napkin act time ca be picked up and that one picked up without touching the napkins therebelow.

The invention has been described in a form at present preferred for the purposes of illustration, but the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

dhat I claim is- 1. As an element of a dispensing fire ture having buckling members, a package of paper articles to be drawn between said buckling members, said package comprising a plurality of articles folded into substan' tially triangular form. thereby to present diverging cam edges for cooperation with s of the fixture, and drawal of an article,

the buckling ineni whereby. upon wi i for t er t on with to tially triangular parts of which the upper the next, said articles bein rectangular and is shorter than the lower. whereby the top folded along aline paralle with but spaced article of the stack may be removed therefrom a diagonal of the article to form upfrom by grasping the short upper fold withper and lower substantially triangular parts, 20 5 out touching the napkin therebelow. the edges of the upper being in spaced par- As an element of a dispensing fixture allel relation with the corresponding edges having buckling members, a package of paof the lower part except for the common per articles to be drawn between said buckline of fold so that the lower protrudes beling members, said package comprising a yond the upper part, said articles being su- 25 10 plurality of articles folded into substantially per-imposed one upon another into stack triangular form, thereby to present divergform, whereby a package for dispensing ing cam edges for cooperation with the purposes is provided in which the upper arbuckling members of the fixture, and whereticle may be removed by means of its upper by, upon Withdrawal of an article, said part without touching the article there- 30 15 edges are adapted for cooperation with the below.

buckling members to free said article from CUURTNEY P. WINTER. 

